Photography - Reality, Artistic Creativity AND/OR a Combination of Both
So, as photographers are we artists, story tellers, historians, journalists, painters, snap shooters, etc. etc.??? The answer is YES! We can be whatever our personal style and interests dictate. This post will show you my style of blending photography, story telling and creativity:
Battery Mendell
This facility was build in 1905 to keep enemy warships from entering the San Francisco Bay Harbor. At the time it was armed with the biggest guns in America, 12 inch cannons. They could be hidden, then rise up for a surprise attack.
This day was dark, except the sky which was white with fog. Here is one of many SOOTC shots I took at various exposures. We walked around and up the stairs and saw where the cannons were positioned. The bars on the windows of the jail area, the heavy metal doors with rivets, the graffiti, the stark concrete and remains of peeled paint all gave a very eerie and menacing feeling to me. The textures and details on the walls were amazing. I'm always looking for new textures to use as overlays on photos, so I took several photos just of textures.
As is often the case, when I looked at my photos on the computer, I didn't get my camera to record what I saw, and just as important to me, I couldn't capture the mood and feel of the scene. Yes, the above image is dark and gloomy as was the case, but still uninspiring to me. Here's what I did:
This is one of the texture shots I took. First I changed it to B&W and increased the contrast a bit. Then I added it as a layer to the above original photo, altered the opacity, and masked/erase parts on the building where I didn't want it. To me, so much white sky was boring, so I wanted to mimic the textures of the building. Then I used Topaz Adjust (a Photoshop plugin) to accentuate the contrast and clarity. Basically I moved the sliders until I was happy with the result.
Final Image
The gritty, grainy, rough textures, the stark coldness of the concrete, the menacing thought of enemies attacking our shores, and a prison to stop them. This photo more clearly tells me this story when compared to the original photo.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ? IS THIS ART OR IS THIS PHOTOGRAPHY?????
8 comments:
I think it is ART and Photography, and I also think it is incredible and beautiful. you took a plain photo and turned it into ART. love it. thanks for the lesson. i love texture to but never thought about using some of my favorites as a layer. thanks so much
Karen, definitely art! Realists would say you can't do that, but did Leo paint Mona exactly the way he saw her! I don't think so. Artistic licence is allowed and therefore it's art!
Wow, what a difference! My opinion is this. If you do more with it than just brighten or crop, it is art, because you take it and make it your creation. This picture is certainly one of a kind among all the ones that have been taken there, so that makes it art, different from all others.
cool process, for me it is both art and photography.
thanks for dropping by my blogs and for your generous comments.
It's impressive and extremely creative.
Good photos, but better get the guns ready,,,you never know.
Gorgeous! I think it is art through photography. I think if its over photoshopped then it is just art with a hint of photography but this is just photoshopped to the point where it really pops but doesn't look fake. Nice edit!
Wow hi Karen, you did a great job here. I love the picture after what you changed. Just magic.
I work with CS4 but still find it hard to make parts come 'back' after I put a layer of them.
Practise is the name I'll guess.
Great to be back into your space again.
Hugs Dagmar
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